Coach John G. Agno is your own cultural attache; keeping you abreast of what's effective in leadership. People learn better and are positively motivated when supported by regular coaching.
PERSONAL COACHING Leadership onboarding coaching helps the executive adapt to the employer's culture, create rapport with their team and develop productive ways to achieve necessary goals.
SELF ASSESSMENT CENTER Leadership skills and style testing. Know how you motivate and coach people to gain success at work and in life.
WHAT IS LEADERSHIP? Leadership is an interactive conversation that pulls people toward becoming comfortable with the language of personal responsibility and commitment.
LEADERSHIP TIPS “The crux of leadership development that works is self-directed learning: intentionally developing or strengthening an aspect of who you are or who you want to be, or both.” Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee (Harvard Business School Press)
Work conflict is risky. It can be poor and poison employee health, work relationships and organizational climates, or it can go well and help to energize problem solving, innovation and bottom-line effectiveness.
Organizations are rife with stories of executives and managers who abuse their power, employees who overstep their authority, and the resulting conflicts that get stuck in downward spirals.
"Making Conflict Work"by Peter T. Coleman and Robert Ferguson explains why these pitfalls are so common and what to do to avoid them and take full advantage of the energy and potential for change that accompanies them.
Conflict is not an inherently bad thing. It is natural, fundamental, and a pervasive part of life. It is what happens when things are opposed. Because conflict elicts anxiety, it can bring about extreme reactions from people. Despite its poor reputation, under the right circumstances, conflict can be functional and positive.
Many leaders dominate by default when faced with a disagreement. They play to win and seek victory at any cost. The belief that conflicts are all-or-nothing, win-or-lose contests is very common and creates an ultimatum to dominate: the only goal is to win. Many leaders who dominate in conflicts actually believe they are negotiating.
Many situational continencies call for dominance. But there are counterforces that hinder the strategic use of dominance even when it is reasonable or necessary. Good-hearted people feel better when benevolent cooperation works, but unfortunately, cooperation often fails. And any leader who can never dominate in a conflict is going to be ineffective.
In the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) business landscape expected to continue for 2015,leaders face many challenges, requiring aggressive, sustained talent management strategies to prepare them for success.
The report consists of responses from an unparalleled participant pool of 13,124 global leaders and 1,528 human resource executives within 2,031 participating organizations. Forty-eight countries and 32 major industries are represented, as well as multinationals and local corporations. Eighteen significant findings are detailed in the report.
According to the research, 25 percent of organizations report their leaders are not capable across any of the VUCA challenges. “This report is a breakthrough because it examines specific talent practices that drive financial performance to help organizations prepare their leaders to manage in this new business environment,” stated Rebecca Ray, Ph.D., The Conference Board, Executive Vice President, Knowledge Organization and Human Capital Practice Lead and study co-author.
Participating organizations that are publicly traded on global financial markets were divided into groups that included those in the top 20 percent of financial performers and those in the bottom 20 percent, based on a composite index of financial performance and external metrics on profitability, earnings per share, five-year rate of return to investors and stockholder equity. The following seven leadership best practices identify what organizations in the top 20 percent of financially performing companies are doing differently from the bottom performers and how much more likely they are to be successful compared to organizations that are not using the identified best practice.
1. Three times more likely to have VUCA-capable leaders. The report identified the top four skills that have the greatest impact on leader preparedness and confidence in addressing VUCA challenges: introducing and managing change; building consensus and commitment; inspiring others toward a challenging future vision and leading across generations. More than 33 percent of HR professionals surveyed view their organization’s leaders as not capable of meeting each of these challenges. Only 18 percent identified their leaders as “very capable.”
2. More than three-and-a-half times more likely to have effective high-potential programs in place. Having a quality, highly supported program can mean the difference between retaining or losing a high-potential leader—participants are 50 percent less likely to leave than those in weakly supported programs. Targeting the right-size pool is equally critical. Organizations with a larger pool of high potentials (35+ percent) risk lower levels of engagement and retention (33 percent) than those with a smaller pool (15-30 percent) since resources are spread too thin. Organizations with too few high-potential leaders (5-10 percent) have an even greater risk.
3. Two times more likely to place value on interacting over managing skills. The research also indicates organizations that value interacting are two times more likely to have highly engaged leaders, 3.5 times more likely to have strong current leaders and have 20 percent more of their leaders ready to fill critical roles. Leaders in companies prioritizing interaction skills are more effective at coaching and developing others; communicating and interacting; developing strong networks and partnerships; fostering employee creativity and innovation; and identifying and developing future talent. Conversely, organizations that focus heavily on managerial responsibilities report less job satisfaction, higher turnover and lower engagement among leaders.
4. Three times more likely to incorporate an integrated learning journey versus a course-list approach when developing their leaders. The research revealed learning experiences are often considered in isolation only instead of as learning journeys that incorporate planned sequences, integrating on-the-job and formal learning opportunities. By viewing on-the-job learning more like formal learning and vice versa, organizations can benefit from the strengths of both forms and generate strong development outcomes for leaders and greater business value.
5. Six times more likely to use analytics to predict future leadership talent needs. The research focused on several forms of leadership analytics that ranged from basic to advanced to better understand the gap between HR analytics practices and recognized value to the business. The study found that 47 percent of organizations do not do any kind of leadership analytics well. Worse yet, only one in 20 did all forms well. An even larger issue: What organizations are doing rarely produces value for the business. Thirty percent oforganizations are using low-value analytics such as gathering efficiency and reactions metrics about leadership programs while only 21 percent are effectively using analytics that reap greater financial gains such as gathering business impact metrics about leadership programs and targeting the gap between current leader readiness and long-term business objectives.
6. Four times more likely to have built a strong pipeline of ready-now leaders to fill available critical roles. Across the entire sample, on average, only 46 percent of available positions could be filled immediately by internal candidates. Organizations that don’t link leader performance expectations to organizational strategy have the greatest decrease in the percentage of ready-now leaders (11 percent). The greatest increases occur when organizations incorporate high-quality, effective development plans (nine percent).
7. Twelve times more likely to have gender balance in their leadership ranks, with women in at least 30 percent of leadership roles. Those in the bottom 20 percent counted only 19 percent of their leaders as women. This trend held for female high-potential leaders as well. For organizations in the top 20 percent, 28 percent of leaders were high-potential women.
“In highly competitive fields and in the midst of ongoing economic uncertainties, organizations need to leverage innovative and creative ways to develop their leaders’ required skills,” said Rich Wellins, Ph.D., DDI Senior Vice President and study co-author. “Armed with the information in this report, organizations can make better decisions about their leadership practices and development that directly link to positive business outcomes in the current and projected VUCA business environment.”
Stepping up to play a bigger role is not an event; it's a process that takes time before it pays off.
Because we are rarely good at our new roles at first, we are loath to let go of old behaviors. What slowly starts to become more and more apparent is that our goals for ourselves are changing. That's when reflecting on what we have been learning by doing becomes invaluable, so that the bigger changes that ensue are driven by a new clarity of self.
In her new book, "ACT LIKE A LEADER, THINK LIKE A LEADER," Herminia Ibarra argues that you have to act your way into a new type of leadership thinking instead of thinking your way into it. Contrary to popular opinion, too much introspection anchors us in the past and amplifies our blinders--shielding us from discovering our leadership potential and pigeonholing us as our past selves instead of pointing the way to the self we can be.
This type of inside out thinking can impede change and hold back careers. Instead we need to develop what Ibarra calls "outsight"--change from the outside in that occurs only when we act like a leader before trying to think like one. To exercise outsight, don't try to unearth your true self. Let it emerge from what you do by plunging into projects, experimenting with the unfamiliar and interacting with different kinds of people. You'll then let go of old habits and sources of self-esteem that define your current limits.
Stage 2: Simple Addition. Adding new roles and behaviors (without subtracting old ones). Increased outsight; getting quick wins on low-hanging fruit.
Stage 3: Complication. Back-sliding, setbacks. Exhaustion from making time for both old and new behaviors; obstruction as the people around you encourage your "old" self.
